LaPierre Warns Of Vast Media-Political Conspiracy Out To Get NRA

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre warned of a vast opposition of united "elite media" and political culture that's out to get the NRA and its supporters.

LaPierre delivered the remarks during a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.

"The political and media elites are lying to us. You know they are. They lie bills into law," LaPierre said. He then pivoted to the Internal Revenue Service suggesting the Obama administration has used it to attack NRA supporters. "The IRS is now a weapon, a weapon to punish anyone who disagrees with us. And that means every one of you."

He then threw in a dig, "Here's how you know the media is lying: they still call themselves 'journalists.'"

LaPierre added that "The media's intentional corruption of the truth is an abomination and NRA members will never, and I mean never, submit or surrender to the national media."

He then pivoted to guns again.

"There is no greater freedom than the right to survive with all the rifles, shotguns, and handguns we want," LaPierre said.

"We know in the world that surrounds us, there are terrorists and there are home invaders, drug cartels, car jackers, and knockout gamers, and rapers and haters and campus killers, airport killers, shopping mall killers, and killers who seek to destroy our country with massive storms of violence against our power grids or vicious waves of chemicals or disease that could collapse our society that sustains us all," he said.

LaPierre continued that "Our Second Amendment in this country separates us from every other country on earth. It makes us stronger than every other country, it makes us better than every other country."

"Let's stand and fight for freedom!" LaPierre concluded to a standing applause from a mostly packed main auditorium. LaPierre's speech drew the biggest applause of any speaker thus far at CPAC, including that for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).